Turning 45!

Over the weekend it was my 45th birthday.  I kind of can’t believe that I’m 45 years old, but it’s better than the alternative!!! 

I had a lovely weekend.  Greg had to work on Saturday as they had stock take, but it was only for half the day.  The boys and I relaxed at home not doing very much.  We went over to my sisters place to chop some trees down and then came home and I had a very yummy laksa for dinner.  YUM.  

On Sunday we went for a great bushwalk around the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout.  It is very beautiful there. 

We also went to a park near the boy's school which was great fun

Then we stopped at a park at Landsborough, which has some gym equipment.  Michael had been asking to go there for ages as we drive past Landsborough school every day to get to the boys school.

As I reflect back on the last 45 years of my life, I think I have had a pretty great life.  It’s true,  I have had some truly terrible tragedies happen to me – and probably these things would not have happened to most people – but for some reason they did happen to me.  These change your life forever and they changed ME forever too.  But, from these terrible things, other things happen and we must keep moving forward and living our lives.  I have tried to do this to the best of my ability.

I am very lucky that I have a wonderful, supportive family.  Yes we have had our differences over time, but when it comes down to it, they are always there for me as I am for them.  I have also been very lucky to have had very good health too.  I have had a few times when I have been unwell but overall I am a healthy person.  You can’t buy good health so this is very important.

The twins class put on a puppet show for the Mums and Dads.  It was very cute and Rhys and Ben did the story Goldilocks and the three bears.  They both wanted to be the baby bear, but not together, separately, so this Goldilocks story had twin baby bears!!!

Very cute! 

I have great kiddo’s and I am also very lucky that I am a young Nanni to little Summer Rose.  I never, ever thought I would have 5 children – never in my wildest dreams (or nightmare!! LOL).  But there you go, another thing you just can’t plan for.  But at times like Christmas, when we all come together, it is absolutely FANTASTIC.  I love my BIG family!

I’m still learning about this thing called “life”.  I have done some things well and others not so well but overall I can confidently say that I am a nice person who is loyal and will stand up for things that aren’t right.  I will follow my dreams and do what I can to make things happen – even if it means going out of my comfort zone.

I look forward to the next 45??? years.  Whatever it may bring, because:

Family surprises!

Alex and Summer Rose coming to see Nanni and Great Nan & Grandad

Last week, this gorgeous little delight came for a visit!

I simply am in heaven.

I was very excited that my beautiful daughter Alex and my super gorgeous granddaughter came for a visit to see us for the first time on the Sunshine Coast.

My sister and I went to the airport to pick them up after the long trip from Darwin.

I haven’t seen this little bubba since she was born, all the way back in January.  My sister and parents hadn’t yet met little Summer Rose yet, so it was a great opportunity for everyone to see each other because…………….

Mum and Dad were coming up to stay as well!!!!  Wahhoooo!!!  I flew Alex and Summer down as a surprise for my parents as they hadn't yet had the opportunity to meet little Summer Rose.  It was a fantastic surprise for Mum and Dad.

OMG I am in Nanni/daughter bliss!

Four Generations!

It is SO great to see my parents, my daughter and my granddaughter.  How lucky am I .

It has been raining for the past week.  It has been a little bit cold but we haven’t yet put on the aircon or anything.  In Sydney we would have had the fire on by now (and I believe it has been freezing there) but it is quite mild here.

We have one more week of school and then it is school holidays!  I can’t wait.

Have a lovely week.

New beginnings at Thrifty Cottage & welcome to winter 2017

Why hello there, remember me?

It has been a very long time between postings.  Our family has gone through an enormous amount of changes in the last 6 months and blogging went on the backburner.  I had even considered starting a new blog, but I have been blogging on this one for a long time and I love it.  When I really thought about it, I didn’t want a new blog at all.

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

For Sale!

Greg and I made the HUGE (for us) decision to sell Thrifty Cottage in Sydney (ie our home) and move on to bigger and better things.  So much had changed in our lives over the past 5 years and so much was changing in the area we were living – upper north shore Sydney.  Although our actual suburb was still fantastic and we loved it, the surrounding suburbs were changing with lots of high rise units being built, lots more crime, less community spirit and house prices were (and continue to) be absolutely CRAZY!!!  It was no longer the place we both grew up and we were becoming less and less keen on our kids being in that area.

To add on to all this Greg was promised a number of career enhancements if he met certain targets and criteria in a new role (within the same company).  He fulfilled his end of the requirements (and more) however all that very hard work was not rewarded, despite him going to the MD of the company and putting forward his situation – it really cemented our decision that it was time to move on.  “Lesson learned – ALWAYS get things put in writing!”

HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

It was very full on.  I had to find somewhere to live and the most important thing was find a suitable school for the boys.  Then we had to sell our house.  It sold in one day for the highest amount we were expecting!  We then had 6 weeks to resign from work, pack up our house, organise a removalist, find a house and move!  It was such a crazy busy time, but we did it J

I HATE packing.....

Seriously, I really, REALLY hate packing........ really!

WHERE?

Fun on the Sunshine Coast with cousins

We made the decision to move to the beautiful Sunshine Coast of Queensland.  Basically, my sister and family had moved there about 12 months ago and loved it.  My sister kept telling us to move up as she was so happy.  Whilst I was checking out real estate with her I discovered that we would be able to buy a beautiful home up there and have no mortgage.  In fact, we would most likely have money left over for investment purposes!  This was another huge factor in our decision.  And when I say home, I mean a home that met our needs – large enough and with a pool.

We still will have our Thrifty Cottage v2 and this will be our continuing journey but a new beginning.  I am really looking forward to our new fantastic life in a very beautiful part of the world called the Sunshine Coast!